LCCS urges Lucas County to wear blue April 8

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and April 8 is Wear Blue Day. The gesture is meant to raise awareness and acknowledgment that it takes a whole community to keep kids from being abused or neglected, said Dean Sparks, executive director of Lucas County Children Services (LCCS).

LCCS substantiated 40 percent of all reports received for physical abuse in 2014. That’s up 7 percent from 2013.

Among those supporting Wear Blue Day are, from Left, Marian Brannon, strengthening families coordinator with Lucas County Family Council; Lucas County Children Services Executive Director Dean Sparks; and Christie Jenkins, CEO of Family and Child Abuse Prevention Center. Toledo Free Press Photo by Christie Materni

Memorial service

As part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, LCCS also hosts a memorial service for Lucas County children killed by abuse, neglect or street violence during the past year.

This year’s ceremony, set for 11:30 a.m. April 29 at LCCS, 705 Adams St., will memorialize four children: Kevin Troutman, 2 months, and Delayno Oliver, 2, who both died of traumatic injuries, and Tyler McIntoush, 16, and Carter Coley Jr., 17, who were both shot.

Corporal punishment

One topic LCCS is focusing on this year is discouraging corporal punishment, Sparks said.

“We’re not going to say people can’t use corporal punishment on their kids,” Sparks said. “[However,] we draw the line between child abuse and discipline.”

LCCS does not advocate spanking children and believes parents should use other, more effective alternatives to deal with their child’s behavior, Sparks said.

“There’s always been that line between how much is discipline and how much is too much,” he said. “When does this become child abuse? We need people to think about that when using physical discipline — how much danger there is. For example, if you use a cord to spank a child, it’s probably abuse. You’re risking that line between abuse and negligence.

“There’s smacking versus hitting,” Sparks said. “We have to help people figure it out. To pat on the bottom is a different thing than hauling off and hitting them in the face. You get a smart aleck at 13 and you have to really help people think about what the consequences are.”

Sparks had his own personal experience with corporal punishment. His father was raised in Kentucky “the old-fashioned way” and spanked Sparks when he was growing up in Columbus. However, Sparks did not spank his own children, he said.

“It’s not against the law. You’re allowed to spank children. I don’t think it’s the best way to teach things, personally,” Sparks said. “I never spanked my kids and they all turned out to be responsible adults.”

Spanking actually teaches about the ways in which adults deal with their frustration, anger and stress, he said. Parents who spank often “put up barriers” between themselves and their children, he said.

“Corporal punishment is when parents don’t have the skills or nothing has been modeled for them as a way to affect the child’s behavior,” Brannon said. “A lot of folks are raised with that: ‘This is what my grandmother did.’ But we don’t do anything else your grandmother did so why are you holding on to that? Everything has to evolve.”

Brannon’s work at Family Council focuses on parents because “children don’t abuse themselves,” she said. The group’s ACT Raising Safe Kids programming comes into play when parents are abusing their children through discipline, she said.

The programming helps parents identify what violent discipline is and includes a piece on self-reflection to discover in themselves why they are being violent toward their children, Brannon said.

Brannon said she has run into many professionals who say, “I was spanked and I’m OK,” but “they’ve been through three marriages,” and have a host of other issues that may affect their children.

Christie Jenkins, CEO of the Family and Child Abuse Prevention Center, focuses on trauma, cognitive therapy and advocacy. In her 20 years working with survivors of abuse, she said she has witnessed some pretty horrific sights concerning violence against children.

“A little boy was beaten with an extension cord. Because of the nature of his injury, his clothes were seared to his wounds,” Jenkins said. “Many times we as counselors, as teachers, as social workers have suspicions but we really can’t prove it. If you feel that way, it’s important to report it. We don’t have to prove it; we just have to report it.”

An important aspect of her work getting resources and education to the parents. One way she does this is through the public library. The other part of her job is training people how to protect children.

Adults generally put the responsibility on the child for their own safety, as when telling a child “don’t talk to strangers,” but her program teaches the parent how to keep children safe.

There are a number of conscious actions parents can take to avoid corporal punishment.

First is simply to make a decision about how you’re going to discipline your kids, he said.

“I’ve always said you will raise your child exactly as you were raised unless you make a conscious effort to do it differently,” he said.

One way is to use positive reinforcements. You have to teach children how to act properly, and when you catch them doing something the correct way, praise them. What is “absolutely critical” is leading by example, Sparks said.

Parents can give timeouts to their children or redirect their child’s behavior, Jenkins said. Parents say they don’t have enough time or that they work too much, but Jenkins says five or 10 minutes with a child makes a big difference in their behavior. Play cards or watch a YouTube video together.

“Show you are invested in them,” she said. “Find out what is behind the behavior. They’re acting out because negative attention is better than none at all. Spend time with your children.”

Part of the problem is that many parents in today’s society are under great amounts of pressure, Brannon said. They are struggling at work, living in poverty and lack education.

“We don’t talk about [parents] until the child does something. They need support,” she said.

Family Council’s programing considers five pillars: social connection, resiliency, knowledge of child development, social and emotional competency and concrete support. Brannon works to support parents in each of the categories.

“My whole umbrella is about building supports,” she said. “[Parents] need resources. They’re on a hamster wheel of trying to get their needs met. … We just really help parents understand there’s other ways to affect behavior. [Abusers] are essentially modeling bullying. And we wonder why we have problems with bullying.”

Rox: Tisha Lee making moves in media

Last August, Tisha Lee made a move to national radio that left a void for local listeners. The Akron native graciously accepted a position as a co-host on Sheyl Underwood Radio as an entertainment reporter contributing to daily topics and conversation. Adding to her already full broadcasting plate, she also worked on the show’s promotions and production while maintaining similar daily duties for WJUC.

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Locally, listeners recognized the void and WJUC briefly had weekend personality Big A.D. fill in mid-days until private deliberations were finished. On March 17, Lee returned to her audience while retaining optional duties for Sheryl Underwood Radio. Excited to return, she immediately got back to work for her community through radio. A graduate of Akron University’s communications/broadcasting program, Lee is a well-trained voice on air, but honed her impeccable production skills while working for WJUC.

She is called upon nationally and internationally by radio stations and DJs through her brand/production company, Golden Voice Media. She enjoyed her time on the national front basking in the spotlight with promotional trips to L.A. and working alongside a fellow female media powerhouse. Six months into her fabulous gig, working on someone else’s dream made her remember the dreams she put on hold to pursue the chance of a lifetime.

Lee has dreams of expanding her brand beyond radio, eventually focusing on her Golden Voice Media company full-time. As part of her comeback deal, listeners will enjoy an extra hour of Tisha Lee 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. She will remain production director for WJUC handling in-house and national commercials as well as upcoming promotions for the Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards set to start April 21.

Martini Rox: What did you miss about your show?

Tisha Lee

Tisha Lee: I missed my listeners and the interaction with my listeners and the community, getting people on air, giving away prizes. … I also missed conducting interviews. Since I’ve been back I have interviewed singer Trevor Jackson, comedian Lil Duval and was able to speak to our friends at Lucas County Children Services for Child Abuse Prevention Month. It was an awesome opportunity, Sheryl Underwood was a lot of fun, I was able to see L.A. and I can’t wait to use what I have received from this experience and applying it to my show.

Martini Rox: You have always been involved in community work, what are you doing now that you’re back in full force?

Tisha Lee: Right now we are quite busy getting ready for the Toledo Neighborhood awards. We just wrapped up our YMCA annual scholarship campaign and that was very successful. We are also celebrating the 45th anniversary of the MLK Kitchen for the Poor on April 26 at Memphis Pearl in Sylvania, and would love to see everyone there.

Martini Rox: What exactly is Golden Voice Media?

Tisha Lee: Golden Voice Media is my media production company, specializing in voiceovers and imaging for radio, TV and narration. I have done production work across the world and will be expanding my team and my brand. We have some great things in the works.

Listen to Tisha Lee Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on 107.3FM or on www.tuneinradio.com.

Wear Blue Day marks Child Abuse Prevention Month

When her young daughter fell out of a second-story window, Lee Campbell was high and afraid of going to jail. Instead of seeking medical attention, she put a bag of frozen peas on the child’s head and smoked some more crack.

Below, local celebrities and community leaders get ready to wear blue on April 9 (photos by Julie Malkin). Toledo Free Press photo and cover photo by Christie Materni

“I was high and not caring about anybody but myself,” the Toledo woman said. “I never took her to the ER. I never did nothing. It was only by the grace of God she survived.”

Eventually Campbell came under the scrutiny of Lucas County Children Services (LCCS), which placed her five children in the care of her mother.

Pebbles Spencer regularly left her four kids in the care of family members while she went out drinking. Her nights usually ended in fights that landed her in and out of jail. Eventually she was also reported to LCCS.

“My caseworker told me to look in the mirror and ask ‘Is this what you want to do? Is this you?’ And when I looked in the mirror, I just started crying,” she said.

Campbell and Spencer are no longer the women they once were, women who regularly made choices that harmed themselves and their children. Today they are sober, reunited with their children and among the parent volunteers now helping other local parents navigate LCCS programs.

“Every day, you have a choice to do something different. You do not have to be who you were,” Campbell said. “You can say, ‘This is my story, but that’s not who I am.’”

Brandon Jones

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and April 9 is the third annual Wear Blue Day in Lucas County.

“It’s something fairly simple, but it’s something that can be very meaningful,” said LCCS Executive Director Dean Sparks. “This is a time when we want to acknowledge that child abuse and neglect are a problem in our town and we’re going to do what we can. We’re going to commit the resources and unite to say child abuse is 100 percent preventable and we’re going to do everything we can to prevent it. All of us wearing blue shirts that day are standing up and saying, ‘I’m part of that.’”

As many as 1,800 children die in the U.S. from abuse or neglect each year, Sparks said.

Each April, LCCS holds a memorial ceremony for Lucas County children who have died in the past year from abuse, neglect or street violence.

This year’s ceremony will be 11:30 a.m. April 25 at LCCS, 705 Adams St. Twelve children were memorialized at last year’s ceremony, the most since Sparks started the memorial services more than a decade ago. This year, 18-month-old Elaina Steinfurth will be remembered.

The East Toledo toddler was killed in June after being thrown across the room by her mother and suffocated by her mother’s boyfriend. The months-long search for the girl drew national attention until her body was discovered hidden in the garage. Her mother and boyfriend were sentenced to life in prison.

Dean Sparks

“Whenever a child is senselessly murdered or killed, that takes a bit out of all of us I think,” Sparks said. “We do the memorial services to help our community heal, for our staff to be able to be introspective and understand how important it is what they do, and to say we must continue to fight against child abuse because it still happens, it’s real and the consequences are dire.”

The Lucas County Coroner’s Office is still reviewing records to make sure there are no other children to include in the memorial this year, said LCCS public information officer Julie Malkin.

Sparks said many people don’t report suspected abuse or neglect because they aren’t sure or they feel it’s none of their business. Others are afraid the person they want to report will find out and retaliate.

Reports can be left anonymously, but even if callers leave their name, LCCS never reveals who called, Sparks said. The agency’s hotline, (419) 213-CARE (2273), is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“When there are high-profile cases like Elaina Steinfurth’s, it heightens awareness and people call us because they are afraid the same thing is going to happen to a child they know,” Sparks said. “It strips away those excuses people have and pushes people to make some reports.”

Lucas County stats

In 2013, LCCS received 4,840 referrals involving 7,323 children. Investigations determined 952 were abused or neglected, according to the agency’s annual report.

Of new cases opened in 2013, 44 percent of families were white, 30 percent were African-American and 24 percent were multiracial, according to LCCS. Two percent were categorized as “other or race unknown.”

About 70 percent of LCCS cases involve substance abuse. Of the drug cases, 80 percent involve heroin or prescription opiates, Sparks said. Human trafficking makes up another growing segment of LCCS cases, with about 15 victims currently in LCCS care, he said.

Sleep-related infant deaths are another category that seems to be on the rise, Sparks said. Lucas County recorded six deaths in 2010, five in 2011 and 16 in 2012, he said. Before 2009, most sleep-related deaths were classified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Now, investigators consider other unsafe factors, such as co-sleeping, particularly with an adult under the influence of alcohol or drugs; stomach sleeping; or sleeping with blankets, stuffed animals or bumper pads.

Parent program

The Parent Partnership Program has been used by LCCS for about four years, Sparks said. It is an expansion of LCCS’ Building a Better Future program. Campbell has been volunteering with the program for six years and Spencer for more than two years.

“I started thinking, all this stuff in my past couldn’t have been for nothing,” Campbell said. “God can take anything bad and turn it into good for someone else.”

Emilie Voss

Spencer agreed.

“When I was in the streets, I was doing more taking than giving,” Spencer said. “I’m a walking testimony to let them know they aren’t alone and if they listen, they don’t have to go as far as I went.”

Lee’s story

Life as Campbell knew it ended at age 6. That’s when she moved to Toledo with her mom and her mom’s new boyfriend, who abused her mom and raped and molested Lee until he died when she was 15.

“I remember coming here to Toledo and everything just stopped,” Campbell said. “I prayed to die every day. Somebody told me if you’re in total darkness, God will come to you and talk to you right there and save you, so I used to climb in these big black garbage bags, thinking God will come to me. When he didn’t, I knew there wasn’t a God, that God and the devil were the same person. I believed that for years.

“Nobody ever spoke against it,” Campbell said of her abuse. “I was just that invisible person that no one could see. Nobody wondered, ‘Why does she not talk? Why does she have accidents at school and she’s 12 years old? What’s going on?’ Nobody questioned it. It was just, ‘Oh she’s just dirty, she’s nasty, she’s slow.’ [After he died] I had to figure out a way to kill that little girl off.”

After her abuser died, she started using pills and alcohol to dull the pain. She turned to prostitution. She drank and used drugs during all her pregnancies and tried to kill herself twice.

Jim Walrod

“I didn’t think it was wrong. This was normal,” Campbell said. “My life was broken from the beginning of time.”

A neighbor finally called LCCS after seeing one of Campbell’s daughters enter a neighborhood crack house looking for her, but Campbell managed to avoid the caseworker for months. Finally she was ordered to appear in court. When she didn’t show up, her mother was given custody of the kids. A few days later, Campbell got angry when her mom refused to let her see her children.

“I said, ‘You’re the reason this is all happening. You’re the reason I’m the way I am. You destroyed my life,’” Campbell said.

In a drug-fueled rage, she threatened to kill her mother, her children and herself and was arrested.

“I just wanted the pain to stop. When you have a lifetime of brokenness and trauma and you’re medicating with drugs and alcohol and not speaking about it, not trying to heal from it, it destroys every bit of proper thinking,” Campbell said. “I just thought it would be easier if they were gone and she was gone and then me gone. It would stop my kids from suffering. That’s where my mind was.”

Sara Hegarty

In jail, she started reading the Bible and decided to get sober. She later regained custody of her children and founded Rahab’s Heart, a local outreach ministry that helps adult women who are street prostitutes and drug addicts.

“God has really worked miracles in my life because I used to be a very ugly person,” Campbell said. “What a blessing it was for somebody to intervene and save my own five kids. I could definitely have lost any of my kids to the streets because of my own ignorance. If it wasn’t for [LCCS], my daughter would be a prostitute. My boys would be dead or drug dealers. My twin daughters would probably be dead. Because I was no kind of mother. I was planting the same seeds in them as were planted in me.

“I just really try to tell [parents] how important it is to move forward, to say, ‘OK, you made some bad choices.’ I did, too. This is what I did, but you don’t have to live in that today.”

Pebbles’ story

Growing up in Toledo, Spencer was something of a wild child — known for fighting in the streets. Her dad, with whom she was close, died when she was 16.

“I was basically a rebel. I wanted to do what I wanted to do,” she said. “I went out in the world to find family and ran into the wrong people.”

While raising her four children, her alcohol use “got out of hand.” She never got violent toward her kids, but picked fights with just about everyone else, she said.

“I used to go from zero to 45 in getting angry. I couldn’t understand how my son had so much anger, but I showed him that,” Spencer said. “I just made wrong decisions. I caused a lot of violence. My therapists say I was reaching out for a lot of attention.”

Spencer’s sister reported her to LCCS the first time, a neighbor a second time. She now calls both instances “a blessing and a wake-up call.”

Sue Stevenson

“Being drunk, you couldn’t know everything that was going on. You couldn’t pay attention to how they feel and what they were going through,” Spencer said of her kids. “I was tired but didn’t know no other way to go. I was just so wrapped up in that mode, I didn’t know how to get out.”

At first, Spencer brushed off LCCS’ attempts to help, but eventually realized she needed to make a change.

“Looking in the mirror made me think, ‘Well hey, I’ve been doing it this way; let’s try another way. Let’s do something different. And follow through this time,’” she said.

Spencer and Campbell both said recovery is an ongoing process, but are confident in their forward progress.

“I don’t think relapse is a part of everybody’s story,” Campbell said. “I’ve been given a beautiful life from the beginning until now. That past has made me the strong woman I am today who can reach out to people and say, ‘Look, you don’t have to be there. I’m going to be the shadow walking with you until you’re ready to change.’”

LCCS is encouraging people wearing blue April 9 to post photos on the agency’s Facebook page, tweet photos to

@LucasCoOHKids or email photos to information@co.lucas.oh.us. For more information, visit lucaskids.net.